This invention relates in general to emergency locking safety belt retractors of the type having a programming pawl and programming ratchet which are initially engaged in order to control the lockup of a locking pawl with a spool associated one or more locking ratchets and more specifically to an improvement in the locking pawl actuating means whereby such actuating means is reset to a start position without the need for a retractive movement of the safety belt webbing spool or a release of the locking pawl from the locking ratchets.
Emergency locking safety belt retractors are in general use in association with safety belts and safety belt harnesses employed for restraining passengers in their seats in vehicles such as automobiles, watercraft and aircraft. In such emergency locking safety belt retractors which are responsive to a change in inertia of the vehicle to cause lockup of the retractor, it is common to employ a programming pawl, operated in response to a vehicle inertia sensor sensing such change in inertia of the vehicle, engaging a programming ratchet with the continued spool rotation due to the webbing pay out as the safety belt or harnesses pulls against the retractor causing operation of a locking pawl actuator device or apparatus to move the locking pawl into a locking engagement with the spool associated locking ratchets. Since spool rotation ceases when the locking pawl engages the locking ratchet teeth in a lockup condition, it is common to provide only sufficient resiliency to the locking pawl actuating apparatus or device as to facilitate the engagement between the programming pawl and programming ratchets, usually made of plastic parts, while the locking pawl and locking ratchets are made of metal, so as to avoid damaging retractor parts. In such situations, it is also common to require a release of the locking pawl from the locking ratchets and the attendant retractive movement of the safety belt retractor spool under the urging of its rewind spring in order to return the locking pawl actuating apparatus or device to a start or rest position from which it can be operated once again to cause a programmed lockup of the locking pawl and locking ratchets.
With the foregoing in mind, it would be desirable to employ a construction and mode of operation for a locking pawl actuating apparatus or device in an emergency locking retractor of otherwise conventional construction which would be automatically reset to a start position, or position of rest, following its actuation of the locking pawl into a lockup condition with the locking ratchets without the need for there being a release of the locking pawl from the locking ratchets or a rewinding movement of the safety belt webbing storage spool. Such an actuating apparatus would thus position itself ready to function again and again without relying on the inner action of other components of the retractor which are, when actuated, functioning to ensure against further protraction of the safety belt webbing off of the retractor.